MEXICO CITY -- The 2016 U.S. Open is known as much for the rules controversy that engulfed the final few hours of the tournament as it is for Dustin Johnson's victory, his first major title.
And if new rules proposed by the United States Golf Association and R&A on Wednesday had been in place last summer at Oakmont, Johnson would have been spared the angst in the moment and the USGA tons of criticism in the aftermath.
On the fifth hole of the final round, Johnson either caused his golf ball to move a millimeter backward or he didn't. Johnson maintained he did not, as did playing partner Lee Westwood.
But after initially telling Johnson he was OK, USGA rules officials later decided that it would have to be reviewed after the round. He was told on the 12th tee that he could be assessed a one-stroke penalty.
That would have caused monumental problems if Johnson had won by a shot and then been assessed the penalty to fall into a playoff. To his credit, Johnson seemed unaffected. He believed all along he did not commit a violation, and after he birdied the 18th hole, his four-shot margin made the one-stroke penalty he received inconsequential.
It still caused considerable consternation among those in the game who shuddered at what might have happened had the tournament been closer.
Under new rules proposed Wednesday -- which are subject to a sixth-month commenting period and not scheduled to go into effect until Jan. 1, 2019 -- Johnson would not have been penalized.
The standards of determining whether a player caused his ball to move are among the proposed changes. Under the current rule, the USGA went by a criteria that weighed "the evidence more likely than not." If the new rule is adopted, "the player will be determined to be the cause only when it is known or virtually known to be the case."
Johnson did not touch the ball with his club. He grounded it to the side of, not behind, the ball. And yet when the ball moved backward, the USGA's take was that the evidence suggested "it was more likely than not" it was Johnson's fault.
"Some of the rules changes I think are really good, especially the ball on the putting green when you don't feel like you caused it to move and you're still getting a penalty ... that makes no sense," Johnson said Wednesday at the WGC-Mexico Championship, which begins Thursday. "Obviously they're trying to simplify the rules a little bit just so there's not so much confusion."
In theory, Johnson simply would have moved the ball back to its original location -- a miniscule distance - and proceeded without penalty.
"I still don't understand it," Johnson said. "I know now, though, that I wouldn't get a penalty if my ball rolls. So that's nice. But other than that, I've got no idea exactly what they were thinking."
Johnson was involved in another high-profile rules issues at the 2010 PGA Championship, where he grounded his club in a bunker on the final hole, costing him a penalty and a chance at a playoff.
The new proposed rules, however, would not have helped him in that case. Johnson's error then was not realizing he was in a bunker; he thought it was a waste area.
Although the proposed rules will allow for the removal of loose impediments and for the touching of sand with a hand or club, grounding a club behind a ball would still be prohibited, as would practice swings that hit the sand.